Hey guys! Just letting you know that I’ve started a new blog for my move to California. You can find it here: https://anothernewcity.wordpress.com/
Grief
Marc Johnson 1947-2014
On Tuesday April 8th my cello professor, Marc Johnson, died of a heart attack in his home in Maine. His death was sudden and unexpected, and has devastated all who knew him. Marc was loved instantly by every person who met him and was such a warm, generous, kind person. He was a phenomenal teacher and cellist with a long career of performing and teaching around the world.
The first time I met Marc was when I first visited Boston University. He gave me a free two hour lesson on a Sunday afternoon that managed to transform my view of BU from a cold, large school into a warm inviting community. Marc gave his time freely and with no reservations. He was always so excited to hear what I had done with my week, and to hear me play. Marc had an unwavering belief in my ability to succeed as both a cellist and a teacher. He gave me confidence and support. He was so sure that I would thrive here at BU and was willing to be in my corner to make that happen. Marc cared deeply about his students and I feel so lucky to have been a part of his studio, even for just a year.
Marc never lost his childlike wonder about the world, or his faith in people. Some of my fondest memories are of the times we would sit in his office and talk about accents and idioms. Marc taught me to say his name with a Maine accent and I taught him how to say Burque. We would laugh about how he called water fountains bubblers and how I would exclaim “dios mio!” whenever I would consistently miss a note. Marc saw music in a way that always fresh and exciting. He would remark about the “sweetheart of a note” Haydn would write. It is those small conversations, and his friendship that I miss most.
This week is complicated further by the fact that today is the 10th anniversary of my Grandfathers passing.
My Grandfather was a pianist and a pediatrician. He had a love of music and children that has been passed down through my family. Some of the earliest memories I have are with my grandfather. I remember “gardening” with him. (Which probably meant I pulled up anything he planted and played in the dirt). I remember his Grover doll that was in his house in ABQ. I remember his love of tea, and his sense of humor. He always had a little twinkle in his eye. I remember all of the stories my father used to tell about the culinary adventures they would embark on together. And I remember my mother and grandmother’s stories of his crazy ideas and antics. I’d like to think that my grandfather and Marc would get along, and are both watching and guiding me in what I do.
On Tuesday, April 15th it will be one year since the Boston Marathon Bombings. The entire city of Boston has come together this week in remembrance and grieving. Its been beautiful to see a city so united, but hard to be part of such a collective experience. My Boston Marathon experience was from the outside looking in last year. It shook my sense of security in the world, but in a way that was different than a lot of the experiences of people here. I’m trying to figure out my place both in the grief and in the city this week.
Thanks to everyone who has offered their love and support during this hard week. I really appreciate it. I haven’t been ready to talk yet, but as soon as I am, know that I know that you will be there for me. I have really felt my support systems and am so grateful. Knowing how quickly life can change, I just wanted to take the time to make sure I tell everyone how much I love and appreciate them.
March/April
Hello!
It turns out that the last 8 weeks of Spring semester are outrageously busy! Sorry for not updating regularly. I’ll catch you all up on what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks, and hopefully post a couple more times before summer starts!
First off, I have some exciting news! I got a job with Student Activities and will be staying in Boston over the summer! Since it is a part time job, I’m currently working on getting a second job. The past two weeks I’ve been taking a bartending class which has taken up much of my weekend time. After this Friday, I’ll be a certified bartender and able to serve alcohol in the state of Massachusetts! Hopefully I’ll be able to get a job in a nice restaurant or bar and be able to make some serious tips! Since I’m working in a practice bar, I have to start memorizing brand names. Here’s an example of my cheat sheet for Bourbon Whiskey:
I have also been working incredibly hard on a curriculum design project with Kristen and Alyssa, two fellow music education students. We’re designing a unit for grade 8 general music. It has led to many hours discussing, planning, typing and researching. This project is due the last week of school and is consuming my life until then!
A couple of weekends ago Cora and I were able to go to the Museum of Fine Arts. We went incredibly close to closing time, but they let us in anyways and we were able to see a couple of rooms. Here are some photos from the Impressionist exhibit and the musical instruments room:
The past month I have been giving weekly tours for admissions! Its been really fun to meet prospective students and to show them around a school that I love. I have my official name tag and microphone/speaker set now:
Last week, I had the pleasure of judging a DebateMate competition and will do so again at Harvard on May 2nd! I also went to an event put on by the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism called Take Back the Night. It was an event put on to protest violence against women.
The group Michael music directs, BU Off Broadway, put on a showcase last weekend. It was a fantastic collection of Broadway tunes that were all performed in fun arrangements and with a high level of musicianship!
The biggest experience I have had in the past three weeks was being able to perform in Boston’s Symphony Hall. The BU Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Chorus put on a performance of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Mortes. As soon as a link from the performance is available, I will let you all know! It was incredible to perform in a space of that caliber. Here are a few pictures from the performance last night:
Some photos of other adventures with Cora (who is also jumping on the Ukulele bandwagon):
And finally, an video from the ukulele craze that has hit my life:
Albuquerque to Boston
Hello all!
Sorry for the radio silence! After a relaxing Spring Break, I came back for one of the busiest weeks I’ve had so far. For Spring break I went back to Albuquerque and got to spend time playing lots of ukulele, sleeping, seeing my family and friends. Here are a few photos from the break:
The ukulele was a big hit:
….and continues to be a big hit in Boston! My roommates have all started learning chords and we have had many singalongs over the past week.
Over break I also got to see some lovely performances. My mom performed with the Health Science Orchestra and the cello section performed Villa-Lobos!
To ensure that everyone didn’t get to stressed in ABQ, we made more stress jars!!
I got to eat my fill of Frontier, homemade pizza and delicious muffins with my favorite people!
Esther and I spent an evening as hipsters under the careful tutelage of Averill who gave us clothing, designed our make up and gave us catchphrases to say.
Ella and I also got to go to one of the concerts that Averill helped to put on as a part of Mountain Blood Fest.
I got to see students and spend time with the wonderful Pedagogy folk at UNM:
I also enjoyed the sunshine and flowers, since Boston is still cold, wet and occasionally snowy.
My last night in Burque was spent with my family, Esther and Ella. We ate, we laughed, we played a lot of music!
Spring break was wonderful. I loved getting to teach a group class on Saturday, visiting UNM professors, seeing Mrs. Rutter, and soak up the sun! Hopefully I’ll be back in May!
Coming back to Boston was a bit of a shock weather wise. I left the 70 degree weather in ABQ and returned to the 27 degree weather in Boston. Since Monday it has warmed up but there have been some brutal days. Most of my week has been monopolized by the All State conference. I got the opportunity to go to dozens of workshops, clinics, lectures, speeches and classes on various topics within Music Education. I also got to solidify my friendships with Alyssa and Talija. After spending 30 hours over the past 2 days with them setting up the table, solving crises, running a reception, breaking down the reception, struggling on the T and going to workshops our friendship was solidified.
I will have more regular updates starting next week! Hope everyone’s Spring is starting well!
Spring Break!
Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it to Spring break!
Got through all of my midterms and celebrated with Julie and chocolate crepes!
Amherst, Midterms and Body Positivity
This week has been fairly busy. Since I have so much going on in the next couple days, this’ll be a shorter blog post! So far I’ve survived 2 interviews (both of which went fairly well I think!) and a midterm. I’m officially a certified tour guide and will begin giving weekly tours after spring break! I have 4 midterms left and then there will be nothing between me and the Albuquerque sunshine.
On Tuesday I got to get coffee with Brittnee, a friend I met this summer. I was great to catch up! Brittnee goes to Boston Conservatory. We’re going to try and go out and do things in Boston more after spring break.
On Thursday after leading another DebateMate session I went to a body positivity event put on by The Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism called Body Rock. It was a dance, art exhibit, thrift shop, fashion show and photo shoot. There were even cookies and cupcakes! People were dressed up in outfits that gave them confidence and made their “body rock.” Ally and I dressed up and went for a few hours. It was really fun, and a great group of people went.
This weekend, I hopped on a bus to Amherst to see Kyra! It was wonderfully fun and relaxing, and we even got a lot of work done! I loved being able to see her outside of ABQ and get to see a peek into her day to day life.
Kyra and I dutifully studied in coffee shops and the library:
When we weren’t studying, I got to meet Kyra’s friends who are lovely, go to the church she regularly attends and see her Amherst dance midway run thorough.
We then went to the Amherst dance formal, which was a good time! It was the second time I got to dress up this week.
Here are a couple last photos I’ll leave you with this week. One is of Kyra’s room with the New Mexico flag and Rosie the Riveter and the other is of a beautiful Boston sunset. Although I’m missing Albuquerque sunsets, Boston has some pretty sunset moments!
I’ll give a short update at the end of this week to let you all know that I survived midterms and then I’ll be ABQ bound. I hope to see you all while I’m home for break!
African drumming, broadway and wandering
This week has been fairly eventful, in all aspects. Class wise, I had 10 minutes to teach a song with accompaniment to my music education class, took a clarinet playing test, started attending orchestra rehearsals and struggled through pitch class set theory (I’m going into office hours tomorrow to see if I can figure it out before my midterm next week). There are only 12 days until Spring Break starts. Standing between me and the endless Albuquerque sky are 2 interviews, 1 training, 5 midterms, 2 DebateMate sessions, 2 observations and an orchestra concert. Although my stress level has reached new high levels this week, I’m hoping that after I push through these next 12 days I can relax and reset.
Since its still snowing in Boston, and I still don’t know how to deal with it, here are a couple more photos! I can’t wait for spring when all of these snow pictures will be replaced by flowers, green grass and blue skies!
Since its not enough to have snow falling, now that the weather is warming up marginally we also have falling ice! This sign is balanced on a snow drift outside of my dorm:
As much fun as this winter weather has been, I’m getting to the point where I’m completely tired of it. Spring come soon please!
Since its been pretty consistently cold and wet, my roommates and I have spent many nights in doing homework and playing cards:
Wednesday I got to hear writer Jhumpa Lahiri read from her new novel The Lowland, which I’m dying to read, and answer questions about her writing process and life. It was amazing to see her. The big auditorium was packed with people. I got there 45 minutes early in order to get a seat! Jhumpa Lahiri has multiple degrees from BU so it was fun to get to hear her reminisce about going to school here. I have read her 3 previous books and really love her writing. She is an author that has created books that have both challenged my worldview and been comfortable, safe spaces for me to escape into. I would highly recommend her collection of short stories Interpreter of Maladies!
The photo on the right was taken by BU Today and is a link to the article published by them.
After going to the book reading I helped Julie dye the back of her hair. She chose a more permanent option so we bleached it as well.
Friday I got to Skype with Esther, which was much needed and wonderful! We have lots of amazing plans for Spring Break and I’m hoping that she’ll come visit me soon.
Riley’s sister Shannon came and visited this weekend so we ate chocolate and made stress jars. Stress jars are amazing jars filled with glue, water and glitter that you shake and watch the glitter settle to help release stress. I have been using mine continuously since I made it. I’ve even been sleeping with it next to my bed! Mine is the blue one with the penguin duct tape.
Saturday was a gorgeous sunny day with a high of 50 degrees. It was the first hint that winter is on the way out!
After attending my last Admissions Ambassador training in the morning, I went to an African Drumming, Singing and Dancing workshop with Alyssa at Tufts. It was really fun, and relates directly to what we are doing in our Music Education class at the moment. Alyssa went to Tufts for her undergrad (she’s a grad student in the Music Ed program here) so it was great to get a tour and hear about her time there.
After dancing and drumming, I met up with Riley and Shannon who were shopping on Newbury Street for a dress to wear to a wedding in April. Since I need more professional wear, I went on a hunt for blazers. I found 2, each for an incredible bargain! The first was originally $350, but it was at a second hand shop so it was discounted to $90. Since they were having an end of winter sale, I got it for $27. The second blazer I got for $7. Hooray for shopping on a budget!!!! Shannon was able to find a dress, and Riley found a pair of pants! 
After our Newbury adventure, we met up with Cora and Ally for dinner and 20 minute musicals! The group Michael is involved with, BU on Broadway, put on a show where they each had 12 hours beginning at 8am to come up with a 20 minute version of a musical they were assigned. The performance was at 8pm. It was incredibly fun to watch all of the musicals performed. Michael’s group did Phantom of the Opera and he did a great job accompanying them on piano!
On Sunday I went to Arlington Street Church and then took a walk around the Boston Public Gardens. It was lovely and gave me hope that spring is on the way!
Sorry for the long blog post! Hope your week is lovely!
More snow, more love, and adventures in New Haven!
I’m writing this blog post on the bus back to Boston from New Haven where I was visiting Ella!
The sun is setting over the snow which is pretty gorgeous and almost makes up for how cold and snowy its been. We’ve had 3 storms in 2 weeks and another is supposed to hit tomorrow although it isn’t supposed to be as bad as the last few. Thursday was an awful mix of snow, rain, sleet, hail and slush. The sidewalks were gross, the streets were gross, and it just made one big soupy mess. The snow came down pretty hard for a while, so I took some more pictures (naturally) to share with everyone.
Not only was it snowy, but we also had to deal with the leak 2.0:
Debate mate was cancelled due to the snow, so I had free time on Thursday to prepare for Riley’s birthday with Ally. In honor of her 21st birthday and her love of things with wings we found and made 21 objects that had wings and made sure to include candy. We then hid the items around the suite and sent her on a scavenger hunt to find them. It was quite fun. We even made her a set of wings!
The suite! AKA: The Coolest People in Boston
On Wednesday I went to my second to last training for Admission Ambassadors. Here is a new friend that I’m making who is also an Education major.
Friday was Valentine’s day. I spent the morning at Boston Latin observing classes and helping to teach the cellos. In the afternoon Ally and I made our Valentine cards! In the evening, Michael and I met up and went out to dinner, then went to a dessert party. He even bought me a lovely bouquet of flowers! I was happy to get to spend some quality time with him, since our schedules are both so busy it is hard to coordinate seeing each other for substantial periods of time!
I woke up Saturday morning, practiced and then went to another DREAM meeting. This week we were building structures out of candy and toothpicks as well as drawing pictures to hang in the DREAM office. It was great getting to see the same group of kids twice, and some of them even remembered me from last week! I think I’m going to try to continue to be involved in this program throughout my time at BU.
After attending my DREAM programming, I caught the T and then a bus to New Haven to visit Ella. It was incredibly lovely to see her and spend some time catching up. It’s been amazing being on the East Coast and getting to see both her and Kyra more frequently. It was also nice to get a couple of days outside of Boston. As much as I love this city, it can be a little fast paced and overwhelming sometimes. It was a much needed break to hang out in New Haven, watch movies, eat green chile and talk for hours with one of my oldest and dearest friends. We had Ethiopian food, made green chile for breakfast and went to a decadent chocolate place for desert. We also had Colombian style arepas and Thai food at a completely deserted restaurant.
This next week brings more snow, a possible visit with Kyra and lots of music ed!
Snow Days! Interviews! Workshops! Oh My!
Hello all!
This past week has been a roller coaster! We had a pretty large snowstorm on Wednesday that shut down the school. Wednesday was also my friend Julie’s birthday so we played in the snow and made decadent Oreo-Reese’s peanut butter cup-chocolate-peanut butter-cupcakes. Here are a bunch of photos from the day:
Creating our snowman:
Cupcakes:
That snow storm dumped 8-10 inches of snow on Boston! I live in an old Brownstone and the weight of the snow opened a leak in the roof. As a result, water came gushing through our closet Thursday morning. I called maintenance and after sending 4 roofers, an electrician and a plumber to investigate, they gave me a bucket and a towel and went up to fix the roof. Another 6 inches is expected tomorrow, so hopefully the roof will actually be fixed! The paint on the wall was (and still is) entirely destroyed:
After dealing with the snow/closet fiasco, I ran my first DebateMate club meeting! The students were amazing. There were 40 students who showed up for the club. The teacher had originally told us around 15 students were interested so we were pleasantly surprised by the turn out! DebateMate is assigning us another mentor so that we have the support we need with all of these kids. We played icebreaker games as well as debate centered games. The students were articulate, opinionated and passionate. Almost everyone was enthusiastic about speaking. I’m extremely excited to go back tomorrow!
Friday was the busiest day of this past week by far. Besides interning at Boston Latin, I had an orchestra audition for the Boston University Symphony Orchestra as well as 2 interviews for summer positions with the University. Buses ran late, and logistical plans imploded but I managed to practice for a few hours, observe for a few hours and successfully complete both my interviews and my audition. Here’s my face after my last commitment at 6pm:
After dinner with Michael, I went home and hung out with the lovely roommates. Chloe and I watched the Avengers and did homework to unwind. Ally had her friend from high school in town who she took out to explore Boston.
On Saturday I woke up bright and early to do another Admissions Ambassador (School Tour Guide) training. In this particular training we walked through the tour and each presented a stop in front of a seasoned tour guide. They then gave us advice and comments. Apparently I’m enthusiastic and charismatic! After that training ended, I grabbed a quick lunch with Chloe and headed over to DREAM training. DREAM is a non-profit mentoring program that pairs college students and children living in subsidized housing developments. It stands for Directing through Recreation, Education, Adventure, and Mentoring. I’m working to get paired with a child. I met a bunch of Education majors who seemed quite nice, and I hope to get to continue hanging out with them!
I came down with a cold Saturday afternoon and spent the next 3 days in bed with a box of tissues and Netflix. I’ve just started feeling better today and am grateful to have energy back.
On Monday (despite being sick) I helped to run a NAfME event! (NAfME stands for National Association for Music Education). We had Jane Sapp come give a workshop. Jane is an incredible educator, musician and activist from Atlanta, Georgia who happened to be on a panel about race at Brandies University. She came to our campus and talked about music as a transformative experience, educating students in poor urban communities and the power of feeling heard. I was incredibly inspired by her and was so glad she was able to come out. She is going to be in Boston again in April, and we may be able to collaborate with her then! I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Another fun fact about Jane that I thought I’d share is about her involvement with the protest music scene of the 70’s and 80’s. She even has an album with Pete Seeger! Here are a few photos of the event, as well as a video of a song we sang at the end:
Those are the big updates for the week! I’ll check back with more photos and stories next week! Hopefully it won’t snow too much tomorrow!
Boston Ballet, Debate Mate, purple hair and more snow….
This week has been as busy as usual. I have started learning clarinet with little success, and have been preparing for my orchestra audition which should happen on Wednesday. In class this week I’ve presented a group project about adolescent cognitive development, starting learning about pitch class set theory (a part of 20th century music theory) and debunked popular myths about Mozart.
I returned to Boston Latin for a second Friday and observed orchestra, general music and choral classes. Saturday I volunteered from 7am-4pm helping run Eastern District Junior Auditions. I saw students from Boston Latin auditioning and it was great to start building relationships with them. Even though its exhausting, it has been great to get involved in the music world here in Boston. I even met a few wonderful elementary school music teachers who offered to let me student teach with them! This week was particularly heavy on the homework front, so Michael and I had multiple homework parties camped out in the George Sherman Union.
The National Association for Music Education has some really exciting things planned for the next 2 weeks which should continue to expand my networking in Boston.
Cora, Ally and I all dyed parts of our hair purple this week! Mine has already started to wash out, but it was fun to experiment with something new.
Yesterday, Ally, Julie, Steve and I went to see the Boston Ballet at BU’s Tsai Performance Center. They did excerpts from their current shows and followed with a question and answer session with the dancers. It was really high quality dancing, and very interesting to hear about their creative processes, career trajectories, and preferred dance styles. They have student rush tickets that I may try to get some time in the future.
I’ve gotten to see Steve and Julie twice this weekend which has been a treat! On Friday we all had dinner and relaxed while watching Arrested Development. Sunday night the suite went out to a vegan restaurant with Robert and his friend Gillian. The restaruant was delicious! I’m adding it to my list of good vegan and vegetarian places in Boston.
Wednesday is Julie’s birthday so we are going to try to go get dinner and do something fun this weekend. Riley’s birthday is next week, so I’m sure we’ll do something for that! This semester is the semester of birthdays!
I was able to make it to the Unitarian church again this week which did a fantastic service about Pete Seeger, who was a Unitarian Universalist (who knew!?). It was great to get to sing Where Have All the Flowers Gone and If I had a Hammer again. I knew that Pete Seeger was influential in the anti-war movement but I didn’t realize that he was also an influential environmentalist!
I have also found myself a job with Debate Mate. I will be going to a middle school in Revere, MA once a week to lead a debate club. I admittedly have to brush up on my debating skills, but I am excited to be able to work with kids!
We are under winter weather watch this week and have already had a couple inches of snow. On Wednesday we are supposed to get 4-6 additional inches!
I will update you all next week, hope February is treating you all well!
Adventures in Boston 